Nobel Laureate's death spotlights 'inhumane' PHL health care system -AGHAM

Nobel Laureate Richard Heck’s death is proof that the Philippine health care system is prejudiced against the poor, said scientist-activist group AGHAM-Advocates of Science and Technology for the People (AGHAM), calling his experience “inhumane.”

 

“It is lamentable that it took the death of a renowned scientist who went through financial difficulty to open our eyes on the reality of the social services such medical treatment in the country is not for the poor,” said Feny Cosico, Secretary General of AGHAM. “Heck was a victim of a profit-driven health care system and government neglect in the Philippines.”

 

According to AGHAM, in 2013, the government only set aside 1.4% of the GDP for health expenditure, with PhilHealth only covering 27% of expenses when a patient is confined a public hospital (which charges 43 times the minimum wage) and the rest shouldered by the patient. Private facilities charge 66 times the minimum wage.

 

Heck was awarded the 2010 Nobel Prize for chemistry “for the development of palladium-catalyzed cross-couplings.” Heck shared the award with Japanese scientists Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki. He retired to the Philippines in 2006 and lived with his wife, Socorro Nardo-Heck, who died in 2012.

 

On October 9, Heck suffered from extreme vomiting and his personal nurse brought him to a private hospital for treatment. However, they were turned away because they couldn’t afford treatment.

 

“(Heck’s death) reflects the systemic problem with the health care system in the country wherein long queue of indigent patients hoping to get medical support for their loved ones is a common scenario in public hospitals. The right to public health and medical care regardless of race, religion, political belief, economic and social condition is a UN Declaration that the government must be reminded of whenever hospitals dismiss sickly people who can’t afford medical fees,” Cosico added. — Bea Montenegro/TJD, GMA News